The official opening of the Unified Front Office of Baiterek Holding took place at the Astana regional branch of the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund. The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan Serik Zhumangarin, Chairman of the Management Board of Baiterek Holding Rustam Karagoyshin, and Chairman of the Management Board of the Damu Fund Farkhat Sarsekeyev.

Baiterek Holding continues to build an ecosystem for supporting small and medium-sized businesses. The primary focus is on improving entrepreneurs’ access to financing, expanding opportunities for starting and developing businesses, and modernising existing enterprises.

Against this background, there arose a need to establish a comprehensive business support system based on a “single-window” principle, providing entrepreneurs with access to the instruments offered by organisations within the Holding’s group.

The regional infrastructure of the Damu Fund formed the basis for the Unified Front Office. The Fund has an extensive network of branches across all 20 regions of Kazakhstan, as well as mobile front offices. This makes the instruments of the Fund and other organisations within the Holding’s group more accessible to entrepreneurs throughout the country, including in remote areas and regions where individual development institutions do not have their own representative offices.

“The establishment of the Unified Front Office marks a new stage in the development of the Damu Fund and the expansion of its role within the business support ecosystem. Today, our specialists work not only with the Fund’s own instruments, but also help entrepreneurs identify suitable solutions offered by other organisations within Baiterek Holding. In essence, Damu’s regional network is becoming a single point of access to a broad range of financial and non-financial instruments — from concessional lending and guarantees to investment financing, export insurance and leasing. This enables us to significantly expand project support opportunities and make assistance more accessible to businesses in every region of the country. The technical launch of the Unified Front Office took place in February of this year. The results already demonstrate strong demand for the new format: since the technical launch of the Unified Front Office, approximately 30,000 enquiries have been received, while 1,250 projects have been supported and financed,” said Farkhat Sarsekeyev.

To operate under the new format, the Fund’s consultants underwent training on the support instruments offered by other organisations within the Holding’s group. In addition, customer relationship management systems were integrated, enabling effective cooperation between development institutions and comprehensive support for entrepreneurial projects.

The Unified Front Office brings together the instruments of five organisations within the Holding’s group of companies:

• Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund – concessional lending, interest-rate subsidies, guarantees and non-financial support measures for small and medium-sized businesses;
• Development Bank of Kazakhstan – financing of major investment projects;
• Qazaqstan Investment Corporation – direct investment and venture financing instruments;
• Export Credit Agency of Kazakhstan – export credit insurance;
• Industrial Development Fund – concessional and lease financing for enterprise modernisation.

As a result, an entrepreneur in any region of the country can now obtain all the necessary information by contacting a single organisation. The Unified Front Office covers the entire entrepreneur support cycle: contacting the Unified Front Office – selecting the appropriate instrument – consultation – submitting an application – project support – consideration of financing.

This format means that entrepreneurs no longer need to approach several development institutions separately, but can begin working on their project at a single point of contact.

The instruments consolidated within the Unified Front Office cover a broad range of support measures, from financing small and medium-sized businesses and major investment projects to direct investment, export insurance and the modernisation of industrial enterprises.

“It is important that such support is available in every region of the country. We plan to expand the ‘Isker Aimaq’ programme to rural areas, making support for entrepreneurs more targeted. Damu’s regional branches and mobile front offices should play a major role in this process. The task of the consultants is to support businesses at every stage of their establishment and development. Another important area is the Business Support and Facilitation Centres. Entrepreneurs often encounter a specific problem but do not know where to turn or how to resolve it. These centres are being created precisely for such situations. At present, they are operating on a pilot basis in five regions of the country,” noted Serik Zhumangarin.

The Business Support and Facilitation Centre is focused on the comprehensive resolution of difficulties faced by entrepreneurs. Centre specialists conduct an initial assessment of each situation and identify possible mechanisms for resolving it. Where necessary, relevant government authorities, financial institutions, local executive bodies and organisations within the Baiterek Holding group are involved.

The Damu Fund coordinates interaction between the participating organisations and supports the entrepreneur until a decision on the matter is obtained, eliminating the need for the entrepreneur to contact each government authority or organisation separately. The pilot project of the Business Support and Facilitation Centres covers Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, the North Kazakhstan Region and the Aktobe Region.

The official opening of the Unified Front Office marks the next stage in the development of an integrated business support infrastructure within Baiterek Holding. The addresses and contact details of the Damu Fund’s regional branches are available at www.damu.kz, as well as through the Unified Contact Centre at 1408.